Kyle Harrison

Name: Kyle Harrison

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Grade: 12th

School: George Hunter High School

Hobbies and Interests: Medical studies, religious studies, charity work, discovering things

Appearance: At 5'2" and 106 pounds, Kyle is very small for a boy his age. He has pale Caucasian skin and his frame is just barely on the thinner side of average. He has weak-looking shoulders that look even scrawnier when he doesn't keep his posture straight. Despite everything else about his body, he does have unexpectedly large feet, giving the impression of a child wearing their parents' shoes. All of that combined with his high, reedy voice makes him appear to many to be younger than he actually is.

Kyle's face is rather round, although not very fat-looking like one would expect from the shape. His nose is small and thin, and his otherwise unremarkable lips are most known for often being in the shape of a wide smile, which also happens to show off his very white teeth. His big blue eyes are accented by a pair of rimless glasses with a flexible black frame. His hair is his most noteworthy feature, a red bowl cut that appears oddly flat and smooth, as though it were cut and maintained with the most exact precision.

Kyle's manner of dress is best described as simple and casual, yet quite nice. On the day of the abduction, he was wearing a navy blue collared shirt, khaki slacks, and brown shoes.

Biography: Born to Chattanooga natives Wayne and Allison Harrison, Kyle's life was comfortable from the start. Wayne left his job as a baker to take care of Kyle, and was quite nervous about how this would affect them financially, but Allison's position as a high-ranked manager a local furniture company ensured that they did not want for much. Living his entire life in an upper middle-class neighborhood, his family was not one of endlessly deep pockets, but he was never in a dire situation. Despite this, his parents were careful to ensure that he did not grow up spoiled, explaining that money cannot be thrown around carelessly, and limiting impulse purchases to occasional gifts for good behavior, and never anything too extravagant.

In his youth, Kyle was extremely close to his parents. Although he spent most of his time with his father, his mother was able to get her schedule setup so that she would be home around five o' clock every night so she could spend time with her family. Every bit of Kyle's upbringing was shared and celebrated, from his first steps to his first day of school. Allison even specifically arranged her vacation days so that she would be able to take a day off every year for Kyle's birthday.

One of the first things that Kyle learned from his parents was empathy. They didn't want him to grow up sheltered and thinking that everyone was as lucky as they were, so they made him aware of the situations of less fortunate people as he grew older. They took him to events that were held by local organizations to help the less fortunate, and encouraged him to participate in food and clothing drives in elementary school. Kyle found that he liked doing things to help people, and as he grew older, he started to actively seek out charitable causes on his own, such as volunteering at the local soup kitchen. At present, he will take almost any opportunity to get involved on other charitable works, whether it be at school, at church, or elsewhere.

Another major part of Kyle's life is religion. Both of his parents are Methodist, and as expected, he was raised with the religion. However, his parents never specifically pushed it on him. They took him to church, but aside from that, they left him to make up his own mind. He did end up joining the religion, and he strongly believes in God. At the same time though, he is fascinated by religions of all stripes. He frequently reads about all sorts of religions both in books and online, ranging from currently active religions to the beliefs of bygone times. He believes that by understanding a broad spectrum of religions, he will be able to have a better understanding of God and his nature.

In his early school days, Kyle was very active and tended to bounce around social groups, never staying with any for too long. It was this continually shifting focus combined with the fact that a lot of his peers found his personality to be fairly annoying that caused him to have very few good friends until he reached high school. His parents were a bit bothered by the fact that he didn't spend very much time playing with other kids after school, but since he still seemed happy, they figured that he was okay with that. And indeed, it didn't bother him that much, although when he looks back on his younger days, he wondered if he might have been missing out on something.

In middle school, a new interest emerged for him, and it was possibly greater than any of his other hobbies. One day he was looking for a project to write a paper about for science class, and he happened upon the topic of vaccines and disease prevention. He marveled at how many diseases had been all but eradicated due to the hard work of doctors and scientists, and he was drawn in right away. Thanks to this, his view of the medical field could be likened to real-life superheroes or wizards, people who deal with things that most people cannot understand or fight, heal the wounded, and remove harmful diseases from the world. He idolized the profession, and he wanted to become one of them. After all, he believed that God wanted people to do their best to make the world a better place, and he couldn't think of a better way to do that than to actively fight against the plagues of the world.

He studied science furiously, taking special notice of the history of medicine. He looked at those records the same way one might have viewed a story of mythological heroes. Things like the development of the polio vaccine and the first successful heart transplant amazed him, and he imagined the people who accomplished such things as larger-than-life figures. It fueled him to study even harder. His hard work paid off by getting him into AP science and biology, and he has continued to put his all into his schoolwork as he aims for a scholarship to medical school. He knows how hard that goal will be to achieve, so almost all of the time that he isn't spending with charity or his friends is put into studying and ensuring that he has the best possible chance to achieve his dream. As a result, he is excelling in all of his classes, rarely scoring below an A on any given assignment.

In terms of career ambitions, he wants to become a virologist and actively participate in the research and prevention of diseases. With all of the lethal plagues and afflictions that have already been banished from the world, he firmly believes that any sort of sickness can be understood and analyzed to the point that a cure could be created. He wants to be a part of that fight, and either end or create a path towards ending as many diseases as possible. With fewer malignant illnesses plaguing the world, he feels that it would create a better state of living for all mankind.

In the meantime, Kyle has been taking first-aid classes and learning as much as he can about handling injuries and preventing infections. He frequently carries a small first-aid kit in his backpack in case it may become necessary, although o his relief, such a situation has yet to come up.

Kyle has a naturally inquisitive personality, to the point that he finds learning about pretty much anything to be an exhilarating experience, whether it has any real meaning or not. Sometimes he will take a walk in park or along a lakeside just to see if he can find anything interesting, and that would qualify as a day of leisure for him. Even if it's something as small as a bird nesting in a tree or a rock that skips particularly well across the water, he still considers it time well spent.

Among the student body, Kyle has built up a reputation as very sunny-natured and helpful. Thanks to his naturally charitable personality, he has a tendency to go up to anyone who seems to need any sort of assistance and ask if he can lend a hand, no matter what their issue happens to be. Although this is often appreciated, more than a few people have gotten annoyed by his overenthusiastic nature, especially when combined with his habit of talking more than necessary. So while there are not many people who would say that they outright hate him, there are quite a few who wish that he would learn to tone it down a little.

His social status in high school is far better than it was before, though. Although he still doesn't have a wide social group of people he contacts regularly, he has a fair amount of close friends. One such notable person would be Violet Schmidt, whom he gets along very well with due to the similarities between their personalities, namely kindness and inquisitiveness. When he needs someone to bounce ideas off of regarding the future, she is usually one of the first people he seeks out.

Kyle is on the fast track to graduating with honors, and it would not be far-fetched to say that his dream college may be within his grasp. He knows for certain that he will be going into the field of medicine, and he is taking a good, hard look at his college options, focusing on those with well-regarded medial programs and notable alumni. He is still sticking by his dreams, but in the meantime, he plans to enjoy the last summer he has before embarking on the hard road to becoming a doctor.

Advantages: Kyle is very intelligent and knowledgeable about medicine and has practical first-aid skills, which would not only aid his own survival, but make him an asset to virtually any group. His sunny and optimistic demeanor would also make for a good boost of morale for as long as he could keep it up.

Disadvantages: Kyle is very small and could be easily overpowered by a vast majority of his classmates. Although he only intends to help for the most part, his enthusiasm in doing so may annoy someone at an inconvenient time. He has very bad vision without his glasses, so losing them would put him at a major disadvantage.

Designated Number: Male Student No. 57

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Designated Weapon: Potato launcher + 1 lb. sack of potatoes

Conclusion: This school seems to be evenly divided into sociopaths and bleeding hearts. Unfortunately this boy falls into the latter category, so the weekend Lourvey spent building that weapon is most likely going to have been a waste. - Trent Camden

'The above biography is as written by Aura. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Aura

Kills: None

Killed By: Violet Schmidt

Collected Weapons: Potato launcher + 1 lb. sack of potatoes (assigned weapon, launcher discarded)

Allies: Mackenzie Baker, Billy Trevino, Violet Schmidt

Enemies: None

Mid-game Evaluation: Kyle prayed upon awakening in the Aviary, at loss for anything else to do. He was silent, up until Mackenzie Baker introduced herself to Billy Trevino, both nearby. His first action aloud was to point out that Mackenzie's wielded sword was dangerous. She put her weapon away, and the trio seemed to have enough general trust in one another to discuss their situation openly. They all evaluated their weapons, Kyle's initially difficult to figure out until they were able to deduce as a group that it was a potato gun. Kyle didn't think much of the weapon and the other two were more inclined to joke about eating the potatoes being a better use of the assigned draw. This aside, they all decided they could ally. Billy pointed out they could easily defend themselves, Kyle shied away from that idea and preferred to frame their alliance as being one to help others. Mackenzie readily agreed, Billy was a bit more hesitant but did as well. Kyle intended to travel with the others and provide medical assistance wherever he could- his spirits, for now, were high as he was convinced of his goodness of his cause.

Mackenzie nearly abandoned them in a fit of recklessness- they only found her a ways down a path through the lower wilds, along with Joanne Coleman. Billy confronted Mackenzie on her recklessness, Kyle tried to calm Billy with the upside- they were all reunited. Mackenzie had run through a scene where the Carter brothers had allegedly killed Morgan Dragosavich and Bryan Merryweather, a stunned Kyle could only offfer platitudes while somebody else interrogated Mackenzie for more information. Kyle, drifting to the side of the pathway, found himself a familiar face, Violet Schmidt. She was in a state of bleeding, Kyle drifted out of the ongoing conversation to assist her, while the others stood back to give him space as he assured Violet she'd be okay. He knew Violet had difficulty with the touch of others and had to physically restrain her to a tree with her consent so she wouldn't flee- he talked her through it as best he could, the cleaning and dressing of the wounds, which they made it through despite moments where Violet seemed to seize from panic. Exhausted she wanted a place to find reprieve, he loyally walked her away from the others, thinking only of her as they went to find shelter.

They found the temple, and entered, just in time to escape the rain that started up partway through Day 2. When they were settled, having tried to lighten the mood with some observations of the peaceful serenity of the temple's facade, they began to discuss the seriousness of the announcements from earlier. Violet confirmed that several of the people she'd met were killers, or in one particular case of Lorenzo Tavares, rapists. Kyle could only be thankful she'd survived her encounters with such characters. Violet pointed out she could defend both of them with the gun, which Kyle hoped it wouldn't come to- he decided to distract himself from the gravity of the situation by searching the temple for useful supplies. A few minutes later things went horribly wrong- a weakened support beam collapsed onto him. The damage to his head was severe, he already couldn't see anymore, and in his daze he mistook Violet for an angel. 'The angel' confirmed his worst fear- that he was about to die. He begged in his last words for the angel that she watch over Violet, protect his best friend. Violet reassured him the angel would- and fired a clean mercy shot to end Kyle's suffering.

Post-Game Evaluation: Bleeding hearts become bleeding heads, funnily enough. That gun packed a punch- I don't think I could put that face back together if I tried. - Trent Camden

Memorable Quotes: "Yeah, that's what I want to do. Save some lives."

Threads
Below is a list of threads containing Kyle, in chronological order.

The Past: V7 Pregame: V7:
 * Feedback Loop
 * Open Door Policy
 * Venipuncture
 * Early Bird
 * Don't Stray Off the Path
 * The Praise and Glory

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Kyle Harrison. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''
 * Kyle and his group caught my attention early on in the game as one of the really promising alliances, a unique little partnership with a distinct goal: do the right thing and help make the island a better place however possible, ideally nonviolently. This sort of thing—the closest SOTF tends to come to actual altruistic heroism—is pretty fascinating to me in general, especially given how its outcome is almost inevitably horrible tragedy. In that respect, Kyle doesn't disappoint, though he plays it out in an unexpected way. I quite appreciated how the seemingly-random coincidence of the collapse at the temple actually ties to both the rough weather and the structural damage inflicted by someone totally unrelated back on the first day, making what can feel on the one hand like a cruel fluke actually a cross-thread setup constructed with a lot of savvy. This all lends a different (and more sinister) bent to Violet's act of apparent mercy.

Backing up a bit: Violet and Kyle had pretty solid chemistry in the thread before, too. Indeed, for a character who mostly played a fairly steady, good, kind role with a generally stable tone, Kyle got a lot of mileage out of his scenes and interactions, which helped prevent him from getting dull or feeling flat or caricatured. He earns his good-guy reputation at the blood drive in Pregame, does a good job playing diplomat when tensions arise within his group, and manages to be the kind, understanding voice Violet so desperately needs when circumstances force her to grapple with one of her greatest fears. But at the same time, he has doubts, gets confused, and doesn't always have answers. Kyle is one of the true good guys of V7, so of course he didn't last very long. They never do. - MurderWeasel